Gertrude B. Seybold, known by most as “Trudie,” turned 100 years old on Monday, Aug. 21. Her birthday was celebrated at her home on Back Narrows Road, Boothbay, which she shares with her daughter, Patty and her husband, Tom Hagan, two dogs (Benjie and Teddy) and a cat (Ella). The celebration stretched over three days and included a lovely ceremony at the Midcoast Friends Meeting, which Trudie attends every Sunday. 

Trudie was born in New Jersey, grew up in the Detroit, Michigan, and Worcester, Massachusetts area. She met her husband, John, at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, and they raised their family of three in and around Swarthmore, near Philadelphia, with a sabbatical in Paris in the 1960s. She spent many summer vacations in the Midcoast area, which is what prompted her daughter to choose Boothbay, Maine. She moved to Boothbay full time in 2015, after the death of her husband and 25 years living in a lovely retirement community in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Long an advocate of women's rights and civil rights, Trudie is known locally for her generosity. She has donated to the Community Center, to the People Helping People program, to Boothbay Region Health Care, to the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, and she has established a scholarship at the Farnum Recovery Center in New Hampshire for recovering alcoholics and opiate addicts from the Boothbay region.

She owes her spryness to working out with Wellness Coach, Mary Baudo, three times a week, and recommends the BRHC's Fit, Flexible and Strong program. She is also currently the most senior of the Awesome Senior Y-Walkers who walk Tuesdays and Thursdays at the YMCA.